The present invention relates to pickup trucks and, more particularly, to soft or flexible tailgates.
Pickup trucks and sport trucks generally have an open bed with solid side walls and a hinged solid metal tailgate. The tailgate is lowered for loading and unloading operations and is fixed in a vertical position for running operations. An object of this tailgate is to prevent objects from falling off the rear of the truck bed.
The disadvantage has long been widely recognized in the field. In response, a market has developed for a net to replace the solid barrier. The net can stop many or most articles from falling out of the bed of the pickup. There are, however, shortcomings in the known nets which has led to poor appearance, noisiness, and accelerated wear. Even so, a considerable demand exists for even these products because of their advantages they provide especially their lower weight.
The existing tailgate nets suffer from several widely recognized problems. They are not self supporting in any way and rely on tension created by elastic inlays or the tensioning of individual horizontal webbing straps to try to create a flat tailgate shape. The nets are manually retained on the vehicle and often must be removed to load and unload cargo into the bed of the truck. Also, these nets are not retained by the vehicle once they are removed.
The present invention provides the art with a tailgate barrier overcoming the disadvantages of the present art. The tailgate barrier of the present invention provides the art with a tailgate which may be vertically raised and lowered. The tailgate includes a net portion which is movable along tracks on the bed side walls and is wound about a reeling mechanism as the tailgate is raised and lowered. The present invention provides a cross beam connected to the net bridging the side walls of the pickup truck bed in a raised position and which is flush with the bed in a lowered or storage position. The tailgate is power operated and automatically moves between its raised and lowered positions upon activation of a switch.
From the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and subjoined claims, other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.